Back to search

BEHANDLING-God og treffsikker diagnostikk, behandling og rehabilitering

Personalized treatment and care for chronic hepatitis B

Alternative title: Persontilpasset behandling og oppfølging av kronisk hepatitt B-infeksjon.

Awarded: NOK 13.4 mill.

The project Personalized treatment and care for chronic hepatitis B aims to improve treatment and care for patients with chronic hepatitis B. The project accommodates World Health Organization (WHO)’s plan to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. Worldwide, an estimated 296 million people are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus, most of whom are unaware of their infection. The infection globally causes 820,000 annual deaths. Norway has sanctioned WHO’s plan to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. To achieve this goal a multi-dimensional approach must be applied: • Diagnosis and referral to care: In Norway, chronic hepatitis B mainly affects immigrants, and a large proportion of these individuals are unaware of their infection. Caritas, a non-profit welfare organization and key stakeholder in the immigrant community will develop and disseminate culturally adapted health information to immigrant populations to promote referral to health care. • Better diagnostic tools: The medical technology company Zimmer & Peacock will aim to develop a point-of-care test for detection and quantification of the hepatitis B virus. Making hepatitis B viral load measurement more accessible, especially in resource-limited setting, can be a game-changer in hepatitis B care. • Personalized treatment: The current standard of care in chronic hepatitis B management is largely a one-size-fits-all model. This project aim to decipher the immunological mechanisms responsible for the highly variable disease progression in hepatitis B infection and identify prognostic biomarkers that will allow a more personalized approach to treatment and care. The research will primarily take place at Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm. The results may pave the road for new and curative treatment principles for chronic hepatitis B, which will be a major leap in the global elimination efforts.

Norway has sanctioned the World Health Organization’s plan to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030, but this cannot be achieved with a one-dimensional approach. Therefore, we have partnered with stakeholders outside academia to address some of the main barriers to elimination of chronic hepatitis B (CHB): 1) Diagnosis and referral to care: In Norway, CHB mainly affects immigrants, and a large proportion of individuals with CHB are unaware of their infection. In the present proposal, we have partnered with Caritas, a key stakeholder in the immigrant community. We aim to develop and disseminate culturally adapted health information to immigrant populations and promote referral to care in selected cities in Norway. 2) Better diagnostic tools: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) viral load measurement is currently performed at highly specialized laboratories and is a major bottleneck in CHB programs. In collaboration with a Norwegian medical technology company (Zimmer & Peacock) we will explore a new principle of HBV viral load measurement. If successful, this can be a game-changer in CHB care globally. 3) Personalized treatment: The current state-of-the-art in the management of CHB is largely a one-size-fits-all model. With this proposal, we aim to use stored blood samples from a multicentre clinical trial (The Nuc-Stop Study) to decipher the immunological mechanisms responsible for the highly variable response to HBV infection. We will identify prognostic biomarkers that will allow a more personalized approach to CHB treatment and care. Through collaboration with a world-leading immunological laboratory, we have access to cutting-edge equipment, which will maximize the impact of our project and ensure skill transfer to our own institution. Results of this study may pave the road for new and curative treatment principles for chronic hepatitis B, which will be a major leap in the global elimination efforts.

Funding scheme:

BEHANDLING-God og treffsikker diagnostikk, behandling og rehabilitering